Karasiński J, Semik D, Kilarski W
Department of Cytology and Histology, Institute of Zoology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland.
Tissue Cell. 2000 Apr;32(2):133-40. doi: 10.1054/tice.2000.0096.
It is generally accepted that connexin43 (Cx43) is a major constituent of heart and myometrial gap junctions. However, the presence of Cx43 gap junctions in non-pregnant myometrium is still poorly documented. Tissue sections of porcine heart and non-pregnant uterus and myometrial smooth muscle cell cultures were immunostained with monoclonal antibody against Cx43. In the heart, intensive immunostaining was confined to the intercalated discs as previously reported. In the non-pregnant uterus, punctuate immunostaining of Cx43 was seen throughout the myometrium along cell interfaces between myocytes. The expression of Cx43 was sustained in cultured smooth muscle cells isolated from non-pregnant myometrium. Western blotting has detected single isoform of Cx43 in both, cardiac and myometrial tissues. The electrophoretic mobility of porcine heart Cx43 was similar to that of myometrial isoform but different from the pattern of mobility of Cx43 of the rat heart. Hence, porcine myometrium may provide attractive model for studying cellular mechanisms triggering expression of gap junction protein in normal (non-pregnant) uterus.
一般认为，连接蛋白43（Cx43）是心脏和子宫肌层缝隙连接的主要成分。然而，非妊娠子宫肌层中Cx43缝隙连接的存在仍缺乏充分的文献记载。用抗Cx43单克隆抗体对猪心脏、非妊娠子宫组织切片以及子宫肌层平滑肌细胞培养物进行免疫染色。在心脏中，如先前报道的那样，强烈的免疫染色局限于闰盘。在非妊娠子宫中，在整个子宫肌层的肌细胞之间的细胞界面处可见Cx43的点状免疫染色。从非妊娠子宫肌层分离的培养平滑肌细胞中Cx43的表达持续存在。蛋白质免疫印迹法在心脏和子宫肌层组织中均检测到Cx43的单一异构体。猪心脏Cx43的电泳迁移率与子宫肌层异构体相似，但与大鼠心脏Cx43的迁移模式不同。因此，猪子宫肌层可能为研究正常（非妊娠）子宫中触发缝隙连接蛋白表达的细胞机制提供有吸引力的模型。
